Retrial Continues in Drug Case of Zavrantonas, Who Was Sentenced to 22 Years in South Cyprus

In the criminal court in Lefkoşa, the capital of South Cyprus, the retrial process of Giorgos Zavrantonas Christodoulou continued on the first day of the week with the examination of the main charges. The defendant is accused of possessing 15 kilograms of cocaine with the intent to sell, and he does not accept the charges, requesting an acquittal. Christodoulou had been sentenced to 22 years in prison as a result of his first trial in Aralık 2022. However, the court of appeals, which evaluated the objection made by the party, recently overturned this conviction and ordered the case to be retried from the beginning. The defense attorneys defended their client's rights by making numerous objections against the evidence presented by the prosecution in this new hearing.

In the court where the case is being heard, the prosecution called Police Officer Militsa Papa, who is responsible for the evidence of the drug operation in question, to the witness stand. Papa recounted in detail the moments when the police arrested two suspects on 16 Ocak 2019 on the grounds that they possessed 15 kilograms of cocaine. The arrested suspects were caught in a residence in the Lakatamia region of Lefkoşa, and their names were announced as Aristos Kyprianou and Yiannis Andreou. Andreou had previously been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the incident, and was pardoned by the President after serving four years. Andreou, who became a witness in this case after being released from his convict status, stated in his testimony that he was inside the house when the police arrived, while Kyprianou was in a vehicle.

According to Officer Papa's testimony, Andreou showed the police the exact location of the cocaine package in the garden of the house and confessed that the drugs belonged to him. Upon this, the said cocaine package was seized during a search conducted in the garden by the police teams. In addition, a military-style designed bag was discovered in the driver's seat of Kyprianou's vehicle. Upon inspection of this bag, a total of 14 more packages containing a white powder were found inside. The prosecution submitted these seized packages as evidence during the retrial process.

Following the prosecution's submission of the packages as evidence, the defendant's lead attorney, Christos Poutziouris, objected, claiming that this evidence was illegally held by the prosecution. The lawyer reminded that during the previous hearing, a decision was made by the court to destroy the evidence after the state laboratory analyzed the drugs. He claimed that despite this, the evidence was not destroyed and during this period, the authorities did not make any request to retain the evidence. Poutziouris emphasized that this situation directly violated his client's right to a fair trial and constituted a disrespect to the court. The prosecution, on the other hand, defended itself by stating that the court should listen to the reasons why the police retained the evidence.

This legal dispute between the parties regarding the status of the evidence was resolved by the court's examination of the file. The judge, referencing a previous file dated 25 Haziran 2020, stated that there was a ruling indicating that the evidence in question could be legally retained. After this stage, the prosecution also included in the case file a USB flash drive containing documents prepared by the state laboratory and telecommunication data. Subsequently, the defense stated that they had no knowledge about the contents of the USB flash drive, questioned whether this data was obtained illegally, and objected to the said digital evidence. It was decided that the case will continue in the same court on Tuesday and that new evidence/objections will be addressed.